Todd Barry, Glasgow

Fans of The Flight Of The Conchords will need little introduction to Todd Barry, whose appearance as a bongo-playing, dog-obsessed sociopath was a highlight of the show's first series. Don't come to these solo stand-up shows (also part of the Glasgow Comedy Festival) expecting a rendition of The Doggie Bounce, though; when left to his own devices, Barry cuts an altogether darker, more low-key but no less amusing figure. Like the Conchords, he's a leftfield, properly alternative proposition; he avoids the whoop-it-up cliches of US stand-up, and deliberately undersells his punchlines with a deadpan delivery. There's something wonderfully unsettling about Barry; he's not so much geeky as mildly sinister. This peculiar stage presence is a great fit for his offbeat outsider humour, and his bone-dry, pernickety commentary on what he finds to be a bewildering world is properly entertaining.

Blackfriars, Sat; Sloans, Sun

Glasgow Comedy Festival

If you're looking for a herculean task in the field of live comedy, then establishing a festival on the virtual doorstep of the world's greatest stand-up carnival has got to be up there. But thanks to a mixture of bloody-minded determination and exceptionally strong programming, the Glasgow Comedy Festival is becoming a potent second force on the Scottish scene. Despite the smaller scale, it offers as much diversity as you'll find on the fringe, with performers ranging from arena-filling major leaguers to the pick of up-and-comers. The former group are well represented by stars like Dara O Briain, Jimmy Carr homegrown shock-tactic specialist Frankie Boyle (pictured), while rising stars include extremely dark magicians Barry & Stuart as well as Bleak Expectations star Tom Allen, who gives the tradition of camp comedy a firmly 21st-century twist. It's also worth checking out the well-chosen season of classic comedy movies, like Airplane!, Annie Hall and Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Jim Gaffigan: King Baby, Audio

Jim Gaffigan.

For those people who believe that a) Americans don't get irony, and b) that they're blissfully unaware of their reputation as a nation for over-consumption and general slobbishness, Jim Gaffigan is here to disabuse you. Blessed with a talent for sarcasm and self-deprecation, he acknowledges that he's a fast food-swilling, TV-addicted waster, and manages to spin unpredictable observational material out of his unremarkable life. Unlike self-congratulating philistine US comics (like Larry The Cable Guy) who treat redneck attitudes and behaviour like virtues in themselves, he's a thoughtful performer with a keen sense of the ridiculousness of US trash culture. This album includes swipes at everything from the gospels to tenpin bowling, as well as an unfeasibly large number of jokes about bacon. Gaffigan appears for a one-off show at London's Shaw Theatre next Saturday.